Safety reflector assembly



March 3, 1.942. A. E. B||cKMAN Erm. l 2,274,561-

l SAFETY- REFLECTOR ASSEMBLY I I v Filed July 12, 1940 any attempt to remove the reflector making Patented Mar.A 3, 1.942

OFFICE SAFETY nEFLEc'r'on ASSEMBLY Alan E. Brickman, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pa., and George A. Gleason, Worcester, Mass., asslgnors to The American Steel and Wire Compan poration of New Jersey Application July l2, 1940, Serial No. 345,214

s claim.

This invention relates to highway safety reilectors, and particularly to an improved reflector assembly and method lof mounting the same on highway guards'.

'This application isa continuation-impart of applicants' application filed May 27, 1938, Serial No. 210,489.

Safety reflectors are now in common use for marking highways at various points, such as dangerous curves, the lateral limits of the highway, and the location of guard rails. Heretofore, such reflectors were mounted in the highway guard rails or posts, usually in the most `simple and inexpensive manner possible. Consequently, they could be easily removed therefrom; and oftentimes were removed by vandals or small children. Theremoval of these safety reflectors not only defeated the purpose for which they were intended but worked a hardship on the highway departments and were expensive to replace. Various ways of mounting these reflectors to prevent the removal thereof have been Suggested and used but none has been effective enough to prevent suchvvand According to the present invention, there is provided a safety reflector assembly which can be conveniently mounted on a highway post or road guard, and therefrom will result in the breaking of the reflector, thus it useless as well as valueless and thereby discouraging such removal.

It ls one ofthe objects of the present invention to provide an improved safety reflector assembly which is inexpensive and simple in its construction and. at the saine time, very eective for the purpose intended It is another object of the invention'to provide an improved safety reector assembly consisting v of a minimum number of parts and which, on assembly, will automatically seal the colored reflecting portion thereof from damage by the weatherv or other foreign elements.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved easy and inexpensive method of mounting a safety reflector 4assembly on the highway post or guard rail on which it is to be located, and at the same time making it dlmcult to remove. l v

It is still anotherobject of this invention to provide an improved safety reflector assembly in which the reflector lens is held in position solely by frictlonal forces.

y of New Jersey, a corthe following specification and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims. In the accompanying drawing, there is shown, for the purpose of illustration, an embodiment and a modification thereof which oury invention may assume in practice.

In the drawing: i

Figure l is a perspective of a type of highway guard rail post and bracket with which our improved safety reilector assembly may be incorporated;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the parts of the improved reflector assembly showing them unassembled;

Figure 3 is a similar view, yshowing the method of assembling the samez' Figure 4 is an enlarged section of the bracket. l showing the reflector assembly mounted therein Figure 5 is a rear view of the mounted reflector assembly; and

' Figure 6 is an enlarged section similar to' Figure 4, showing another manner in which the reflector lens can without the use of the hrubber gasket.

The improved safety reflector assembly of our invention, as shown in the drawing, comprises a metallic cylindrical cup-like lens receptacle 2 portion or lip 3 around the and a cylindrical button-like reflector lens unit i preferably having a rearwardly tapered portion 5 which is adapted to fit into the receptacle 2 with preferably a pliable rubber gasket or washer 8 compressibly positloned therebetween. The button-like reflector glass lens is preferably of a one-piece construction, and has a circumferential or annular flange 9 arranged therearoundlntermediate the length reflecting portion, preferrear surface andv rearwardly tapered portion understood that any suitable usedwith our invention bute colored glass lens ably used as it makes a complete reflector-button Various other objects and advantages of this invention will be more apparent in the course of Voffset spring-time bracket.' highway post.- .01- f in itself vand one that lends itself favorably to our invention. r

The .safety reflector button assembly oi' our vention is especially adaptable for use with resilient oifsetv spring-type brackets, as shown at 'Il in the drawing, 'which are attached toa number of suitable highway posts, as shown in Figure 1, which make upthe guard rail, but may be'adapted for use in any other desired manner.

To mount the button assembly in the resilient be assembled in the receptacle.

as described above is prefer-` `by frictional forces.

land a plurality of projecting portions 8 struck up by means of a suitable tool from the material of the receptacle against the inner surface of the bracket 1, as clearly shownin Figures 3 and 5. This securely positions the cup-like receptacle 2 in the bracket.

The pliable rubber gasket or washer 8 is then positioned on the tapered portion 5 of the lens. This tapered portion, together with the rubber gasket positioned thereon, is then placed in the receptacle, as shown in Figure 3, and forced therein so as to suitably press the rubber gasket between the tapered portion and the inner walls of the receptacle; that is, the tapered portion of the Vlens expands the gasket Si and compresses it against the inner walls lens is -forced therein. This results in frictionally holding the lensin position in the receptacle and completely seals the extreme rear colored portion of the lens from the weather/and foreign elements. It is an advantage to have the rear portion of the lens sealed insuch a manner, since, if it were open to the weather, it would tend to deteriorate the fused aluminum or colored reflecting portion, thereby diminishing its reflecting qualities.

It is preferable that the circumferential flange 9 have an outer diameter'substantialLv equal to or slightly less than the inner diameter of the receptacle, as is clearly shown in Figures 4 and 6 of the drawing, so that a relatively tight or forced fit is assured between the flange and the inner periphery of the receptacle when the reflector button is forced therein so as to aid in securely holding the same Vin the receptacle solely However, in certain instances, it may be desirable not to use the pliable rubber gasket 6 as shown in Figure 6 of the drawing, and in such case, the reflector button is forced into the receptacle and is held therein solely by the frictional vforces exerted between the outer surface of the flange 9 of the reflector forcing said tapered of the; receptacle as the button and the inner periphery of the receptacle 2, due to the tight fit therebetween.

It will be seen the reflector assembly from the bracket or mounting, should the lens in any way become damaged, a sleeve or other suitable tool may be positioned over and around the outsidek diameter of the cup-like receptacle and, whenl forced thereover, will inwardly compress the ears or projections 8, thereby allowing the complete assembly to be removed from the bracket or its mounting. It would be extremely difficult for anyone, especially children, to remove the lens from the receptacle in that they usually do not have suitable tools available for such use, and to attempt to remove the lens from the receptacle without breaking it would be futile.

While we have shown and described -several embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that these embodiments are merely for the purpose of illustration and description, and that various other forms may be devised within the scope of our invention, as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The method of v assembling a safety reflector on a metallic mounting member which comprises providing a lens receptacle having a flange that if it is desired to remove circumferential flange around the outer edge thereof, positioning saidreceptacle in a hole in saidmember so that the fiange fits tightly against the outersurface of said member, strikingl up a plurality of projections from the material of the receptacle against the inside surface of said mounting member to securely hold the same therein, providing a button-like reector lens having a rearwardly tapered portion, positioning a pliable sealing gasket on the tapered portion f said lens, and finally portion together with said gasket into said receptacle where it is frictionally held solely by the action of said gasket between said lens and the innerwall of said receptacle.

2. A safety reflector assembly comprising a cylindrical lens'receptacle, a cylindrical buttonlike reflector lens having a circumferential flange arranged therearound and a rearwardly tapered portion, and an annular-pliable member, said lens being positioned in said receptacle with said pliable member positioned and compressed between said tapered of said receptacle at a spaced distance from said x and with the circumferential ilange therearound snugly fitting the inner periphery of said receptacle so that said Alens will be held securely therein solely by frictional forces.

3. A safety reflector assembly comprising a cylindrical cup-like lens receptacle, a cylindrical reflector lens having a rearwardly tapered portion, and a relatively narrow annular resilient member, said lens being positioned in said receptacle with said resilient member positioned substantially centrally around the tapered portion of said lens and compressed between the same and the inner walls of said receptacle so that said lens is held securely therein by engagement of the annular member with the inner walls of said receptacle.

4. A safety reflector assembly comprising a cylindrical cup-like lens receptacle having one end thereof permanently closed, a cylindrical reflector lens having a rearwardly tapered reflector portion, and a relatively narrow annular rubber member, said lens being positioned in said receptacle with said annular member being positioned and compressed between the inner walls of said receptacle and the rearwardly tapered portion of the lens intermediate the ends of said tapered portion so as to securely hOld the lens therein thereby completely sealing the most rearward portion of said lens against leakage so as to protect the same from the elements.

5. A safety reflector assembly comprising a cy'indrical cup-like receptacle, and a cylindrical button-like reflector unit having an annular flange arranged therearound intermediate the length thereof with-the flange having an outer diameter slightly less than the inner diameter of said receptacle, said unit being forced into position in said receptacle with the outer surface of the flange of said unit tightly tting the inner periphery of said receptacle so that said unit is held securely therein by frictional forces exerted betweensaid flange and said receptacle whereby the inner surface of said unit is sealed from the elements with the inner surfaces of said unit being spaced from the in'ner walls of said receptacle. v

6. The method of assembling a safety renector on a mounting member which comprises providing a cylindrical cup-like receptacle having a flange around the outer edge thereof, positionportion and the inner walls' the receptacle with -ange carried thereby tightly fits into said re.

ceptacle whereby the outer surface of the flange cooperates with the inner 'periphery of the receptacle and the unit is held therein solely by frictional forces.

.7. A safety reflector assembly comprising a cylindrical-shaped receptacle having an open end and a closed end, and a cylindrical button-like reflector unit having an annular ange arranged therearound intermediate the length thereof, said unit being forced into position in said receptacle so that the ange`carried by the unit is positioned at a point adjacent the open end of the outer surface of the flange tightly tting the -inner periphery of said receptacle so that said unit is held securely the periphery therein by frictional forces exerted between said flange and said receptacle whereby the inner sut'- face of said unit is sealed from the, elements with the inner surfaces of said unit being spaced from the inner walls of said receptacle. y

8. A safetyl reflector assembly comprising a cylindrical cup-like receptacle having an outwardly extending flange 'portion arranged around thereof at its open end, and a cylindrical button-like reflectorv unit having an annular flange arranged therearound intermediate the length thereof with the flange having an outer diameter slightly less than the inner diameter of said into position in carried thereby the open end of said receptacle so that the flange is positioned at a point adjacent the receptacle immediately rearwardly of the flange portionvcarried thereby with the outer surface of the flange tightly fitting the inner periphery of said receptacle so that said unit is held securely therein by frictional forces exerted between said flange and said receptacle whereby the inner surface of said unitis sealed from the elements with the inner surfaces of said unit being spaced from the inner walls of said ALAN E. BRICKMAN. GEORGE A. GLEASON.

. receptacle.

receptacle, said unit being forced' 

